Empowering children and young people worldwide for a sustainable future
Partners from all over the world have flocked to The Hague for the Aflatoun International Meeting. The event is taking place over three days, 2-4 November, attracting 200 Aflatoun friends, partners and supporters to debate how social and financial education is contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
The conference opened with a welcome video from Aflatoun pupils worldwide. Founder of the organisation, Jeroo Billimoria gave an inspiring speech to mark the 10th anniversary of the organisation. The mother of Aflatoun was followed by the father of the SDGs as David Nabarro, UN Special Adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sent an inspiring video message.
Besides experts, officials and organisations sharing their ideas about how social and financial education can contribute to a sustainable future, the voice of younger ones was also heard. Youth campaigner Luvuyo Mandela hosted a panel on how to empower children and young people, while he was also filmed by a young TV crew. Dutch pupils were learning how to make a short film about the IM; through the lens of children.
Before the conference day was closed, we all looked back at the highlights of the event in a wrap up video. Then it was time for the launch of Aflatoun’s new peacebuilding curriculum. The programme fostering peace and community development was designed in partnership with Syrian organisation Mobaderoon. The first official copy of the peacebuilding manual was handed over to its founder and she read a message of peace and hope from pupils back in Syria.
On the second day, Aflatoun International CEO Roeland Monasch presented the New Strategy (2016-2020) to all its partners. The organisation’s ambition is an international recognition of the need to empower every boy and girl with social and financial knowledge. Aflatoun’s goal is to reach 20 million children and young people by 2020.
Various break out sessions on models for youth employment and entrepreneurship, digital learning as an accelerator, early childhood education for a sustainable future, empowering adolescents and many more took place. The final day will be dedicated to Aflatoun’s strong network of smart partnerships.
You can find many pictures of the Aflatoun International Meeting here.
Follow the meeting on Facebook and Twitter with the hastag #IMAfaltoun
